


Lovely Tree Hugger (on hiatus)

by Kikibebe



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alien Yoo Kihyun, CEO Shin Hoseok | Wonho, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-03-01 02:28:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18791158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikibebe/pseuds/Kikibebe
Summary: Kihyun travels to Earth to look for a home tree and he finds a home





	1. TREE-1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Kihyun's purple hair (he does not look human at all), his caring characteristics and his naivety (as Minhyuk exposed him).  
> English is my second language and this is not proofread at all so mistakes be expected.

Blinking his eyes open, Kihyun looks around and all he feels is the coldness seeping into his bones. Everything is blurry and he feels like he is floating, not on fluffy cloud but hard, solid, cold steel surface which is the only thing that grounds his mind. Kihyun closes his eyes again and tries to focus.

“1” - Kihyun makes himself count, attempts to anchor his panic.

“2” - Kihyun tries to breath through his nose instead of gasping for air.

“3” - Kihyun slowly opens his eyes again to look around while wiggling his fingers and toes.

Over to his left, Kihyun sees the smooth and faintly sparkling metal wall. Then he makes a big movement with his arm by leaning on it and slowly sitting up, turning his head to the right, a sliding glass door welcomes him. Feeling not as light-headed and be able to sit up properly and bend his leg and swing down the edge of the steel bed he is on, Kihyun groans and prepares himself to stand up. He does so in a careful and slow manner, hoping to not fall down due to the remnant of the haziness he can still detect inside his head. Feet firmly planted, Kihyun then realizes he is still bare-footed feeling the chill seeping through the steel floor. He does the full-body shiver, flapping his arms around and jumping lightly, trying to make his body to generate heat. He looks around the room which he remembers now is the hibernation cocoon inside his little TREE-1 spaceship.

Stretching and twisting his body after a long deep sleep, Kihyun emits a satisfying moan “Ahhhh, gosh, now this feels good”

“Let’s go and see the Earth now” - Smiling to himself, Kihyun speed walks as fast as his legs which are now shaking light due to an extended period of time of not being put to use .

Kihyun presses the button and steps into the small control room mof TREE-1 and can not help but in awe of what he is seeing. Out in front of the controlling wheel, Kihyun can see the Earth now, blue and white mixing together.

“Oh my tree, it is so round, very round and so so beautiful” - Happily jump skip forwards, Kihyun totally forgets how his legs are still weak and how his energy is at the lowest because it has been so long since the last time Kihyun is in contact with a tree and that ends with his feet catch up with each other and his face lands hashly on the chair.

“Ahhh, it hurts, it hurts” - squealing and rubbing his nose, Kihyun can hear in his head what the Great Oak used to tell him before  “ _You are such a cry baby”_ and how he replied with a blinding, exciting grin _“I am not a cry baby but I am your baby and you are my tree”_. Feeling the tears on the verge of coming up, Kihyun blinks his eyes, shakes his head to suppress the surging emotions, and reaches for the control table to pull himself up.

“You always say smile suits me better, Oakie” -  Looking up to the front, Kihyun smiles brightly, and announces loudly “I am here, Oakie and I make it. This is real and the Earth is really beautiful.”

Looking over to the screen the left saying “TIME LEFT TO DESTINATION: 35 SUN CYCLES”, Kihyun can feel the bubbling excitement waiting to spill over. He can not wait to meet all the trees and hopefully find himself a Tree and make connection with her like what he had with the Great Oak. Thinking about the Great Oak, Kihyun can not help but to reminiscing about his memories with his home tree. Getting lost in replaying in his head the scene of him as a little child hugging and climbing up Oakie, of the teenage Kihyun grumbling during his too-long trip to take the water from the stream back to feed his thirsty Oak, of teary and desperate 400-sun-cycles-ago Kihyun kneeling and praying to the divine to save Oakie from the painful sickness caused by the white fungus and of himself sobbing and screaming “I love you” to his Oakie while cutting her down with his own two hands since that was the only way he could see to end the pain Oakie was suffering and to prevent other trees to be infected. The feeling of water dropping on his hand brings Kihyun back to reality and realizes that his face is now wet with tears. Pulling the sleeves of his white loose shirt over his knuckle, Kihyun uses them to wipe his face and rub his eyes. Kihyun sniffles a bit and tries to think about his farewell promises with Oakie to calm himself down.

 

_“Promise me to stay brave, kind, understanding and lovely as you are now, my caretaker, my child and my family, Kihyun. I have lived and been with five of generations of you, received your care, and love and in return given you and previous versions of you, life and a home. I know that the bond between a tree and a caretaker is sacred and remains forever in this planet but now I am in so much pain and agony that I wish for the end of it. I know I am asking you the impossible, a caretaker to kill me but baby, please spare me the pain. I do realize that I am stripping you away from your home and your only source of life because of the symbiosis your kind of people have with plants in which you need to touch a tree to get the energy to live. But remember when I say there is other places out there with plenty plants for you to love and receive love from. I was speaking the truth. I am among the oldest here and I know for a fact that Earth is real because I came here from there. Your people brought me here after a exploration trip so Kihyun, please do not cry and hate me since I am being selfish now.”_

_Oakie told Kihyun her wishes after 1000 sun cycles and countless efforts of him and the Elders to try to get rid of the white fungus spreading all over her trunk and branches. After that, it took him nearly 300 sun cycles to let the idea sink in and another 60 sun cycles to settle on the date to send off Oakie and to depart on his trip to planet Earth. Between the moment of making the decision and the actual send off date, every night Oakie would tell Kihyun stories about her home, Earth while he curled up in his nest, made of Oakie’s leaves, drifting off to sleep. The Elders, despite being not happy about losing one of unique trees in the planet, the one from Earth, accepts The Great Oak’s wish and actually helped Kihyun to prepare for his trip by giving him the only book they had kept about the Earth, hidden deep into the restriction section of the Evergreen Library._

 

Shaking his head and slapping his cheeks lightly, Kihyun pulls himself out of the train of past events and focuses on the task at hand. Kihyun checks all the statistics of the TREE-1 again to make sure everything is fine and opens the drawer under the control panel to take out a big, worn-out book, “EARTH: THE SAD TALE OF TREES AS COMMON GOODS”. Turning the book to the marked page, Kihyun starts to read. He needs to study about human, learns what he can about planet Earth in his remaining time on TREE-1. Kihyun hopes that human are not as cruel as described in this book or else he does not know what to do with his life any more. He is now at his dead end.


	2. KELP

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first encounter

“Time to destination: 1 SUN CYCLE”. 

Looking at the blaring screen, Kihyun stretches his arms over his head and closes the book that he has been reading since 33 sun cycles ago. It is not that the book is very long but Kihyun can not stay up for more than one-eighth of a sun cycle nowadays. He has not been in contact with any plant since his last hug with the Oakie which is probably like 300 sun cycles ago. The portion for health revitalization that he’s got from the Elders can only do so much, hence, he has to reserve his energy for the coming-soon exploration on Earth. 

Bringing the book with him, Kihyun gets up from his seat, opens the sliding door and steps over to the hibernation/sleeping room. He walks to the bed and kneels down to pull out a trunk under it. Inside the trunk are things that Kihyun, with the help of Oakie and the Elders, have prepared  for life on Earth. Placing neatly inside the trunk are clothing items that are made based on the drawing of human clothings in the book. Inside a small pocket attached to the top of the trunk lie the gold and silver flat, round pieces which Kihyun is told to keep safe and use those to make exchange with human. He proceeds to  pull out one stack of clothing that is supposed to be worn as one outfit. Turning the book to the page with the clothing drawing, Kihyun places the book on the bed, using it as a guide to put together these clothing items on himself. 

The task proves to be quite difficult and tiring. The white pants are so long and tight that it makes Kihyun really itchy. He tries to jump up and down, even does a split in hope to be able to stretch them a little bit. The top parts feel even more uncomfortable. There are a couple of layers to put on and the outer shirt is quite heavy with puffy sleeves. On top of that, the collar is so high and outright painful to someone who is used to breezy, light shirt like Kihyun. Putting on the black shoes that comes up to his ankles, and fixing the big feather-decorated hat on top of his head, Kihyun then turns to look at his reflection on the metal wall. He steps closer and closer to look at the reflected image,  a boy with lilac gradient hair, and violet eyes staring back at him with curious eyes. 

“Wow, I can really pass as human now. And for the love of trees, how can human actually use these as clothes?”. Kihyun exclaims, already thinking about his interactions with human.

  
********

 

“Time to destination: ONE-TWENTY FOURTH SUN CYCLE”

Nervously fidgeting on his seat and in his human clothings,  Kihyun absent-mindedly puts a fingers in his mouth, deep in thoughts, going through the checklists of things to do and things to carry with him when stepping out on Earth. 

“Counting down: 10” - White is everywhere and white is all Kihyun can see

“9”

“8” - color starts appearing

“7” -” blue?”

“6” - everywhere is blue

“5” - dark blue

“4” - “should it be brown and green?” 

“3” - “something is wrong, but this is the right coordination”

“2” - shutting his eyes tightly, Kihyun bends his body forward, places his hands on the back of his head, and

“1” - “Please” 

 

Splash. Quake. And then nothing. 

Kihyun opens his eyes. His jaw drops and he is in awe watching the scene displaying outside. Various of creatures that Kihyun knows as fish are moving about, seemingly do not give a care to the new intruder. They come in different shapes, sizes and colors but they are all very beautiful. If the fish are the lovely active characters of this magnificent play, the vibrant, rainbow rock-like living creatures beneath take on a study role, creating the foundation for the magic to happen before Kihyun’s eyes. And then, he hears it, the soft whisper. 

“There are plants around” - Kihyun screams excitedly. He turns  trying to identify where the voice is coming from. And he sees them. His first ever Earth plants. They are dark green, just as Oakie’s leaves in late summer. The plants are swaying as if there are wind caressing them and they all are singing a song about the beauty of the water and the shining sun above them. Their movements are smooth and their voices are so soft that Kihyun feels like he is hypnotized just watching and listening to them.

“EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!” The blaring wail of the siren and the flashing red light pierce through the velvety of silence and make Kihyun jump up. He runs back to the control panel and watches in horror that the oxygen stats are dropping down dramatically. Kihyun checks his pockets - “All those gold and silver pieces are here. I have to get out”. Kihyun rushes to hover over the unlock button. He takes a deep breath and presses it. 

Kihyun can feel his body is being pushed when the water forces its way in. Backwards. Forward. “Just a little bit more”- Kihyun keeps moving his arms and legs, making big movements and suddenly he is floating. Kihyun opens his eyes. In front, he can see the amazing scenery that he witnessed inside the TREE-1, beneath him, the  TREE-1 sinking further and further down the water. 

“Evergreen really ends for me” - Kihyun thinks, regretting that he lost TREE-1 and now he has nothing physical to remind him of his life at Evergreen but himself and his memories. Slapping his face lightly with his hands, Kihyun shakes the sad thoughts away. 

“My life on Earth starts now” - with determination, Kihyun swims ahead to the plants that he has seen and heard. Up close, they even look prettier and sound better. 

“H….” - the water stings his throat and nose. Realizing he is indeed underwater so making sound to is not possible. Kihyun hesitantly reaches out to touch one of the leaves lightly. 

“I am very sorry. Usually I am really well-mannered and will not touch you without your permission but now this is the only way I can communicate with you. Please forgive me” - Kihyun apologizes. 

“It is okay. The fish touch me all the time. They sometimes even taste me without asking first. Rude” - comes the reply

“What is your name?”

“I am Euka - the kelp and this is my kelp bed”

Kihyun feels his lips pull up to a tight smile. He can not help but feel so happy about his first interactions with a being on Earth. However, Kihyun’s joy does not last long. Exhaust takes over his body from all the movements he has to make. 

“About tasting actually. I, my people, do not eat but receive our energy from trees and plants. Long story short since I do not have that much time because I can not hold my breath for too long, I haven’t been able to be in contact with any plants for more day 300 sun cycles. So please, is it okay for me to get some energy from you?” - Kihyun pleads

“Of course, I do not mind since I and my family love nurturing others. We help to build this entire coral reef” - Euka proudly says. 

“Thank you so much, Euka. You are my savior” - Kihyun closes his eyes, moving his body closer to Euka and proceeds to connect to the energy flow inside Euka. It has been so long since Kihyun can feel the plants energy. It is spilling in his body, filling up to his toes and fingertips with vitality . It energizes him in a way that the revitalization portion can never do. 

Suddenly, Kihyun can feel his back hitting a soft but broad surface. There are arms wrapping across his chest. And then he gets pulled up. 

  
  



	3. HIS HUMAN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the late update but here it is, Kihyun's first human

Kihyun feels air filling his lungs, warmth on his face, breeze tickling his ears and... breath on his neck. Someone is breathing hard with their arms still around Kihyun’s shoulders. Eyes widens realizing he might have his first encounter with a human. A whole human. A real one. His heart in thumping so hard and Kihyun gets so nervous that he has no idea what to do. All his learnings about human seemingly disappear. His body stiffens and Kihyun is holding his breath. A moment passes and he can feel himself being turned around.

Nothing in the book has prepared Kihyun for THE human. The person is staring at him, his eyes and mouth are wide open. He is trying to say something but Kihyun can not decipher. But oh tree lord, the human surely speaks fast. And he is beautiful. Different but beautiful even with his black hair sticking to his face and dripping with water. Kihyun has never seen anyone with dark black hair. Odi, next tree, has lovely light blue hair. Or Luna, five threes down the hill, has bright green hair with yellow stripes. And Kihyun’s hair starts from pink at the root to gradually turns into lilac reaching the top. The human eyes shine in a light brown shade under the sunlight as opposite to Kihyun’s own violet ones. Kihyun can not help but keep staring. The human is so mesmerizing, even the sounds he makes are melodic. While his pitch is a little high and the speaking speed is fast, Kihyun still likes it a lot.

Kihyun suddenly hears someone yelling. Reluctantly, Kihyun moves his focus from admiring the expressions on the human face to the direction of the yelling voice. Only then, Kihyun notices a boat nearby. The boat is all white and decorated with some shiny metallic pieces around the hull. It is also much bigger than the one Kihyun used to go down the river sometimes to get to the city back in Evergreen. The boat is pretty close to Kihyun and he wonders why he was not aware of it till now. Kihyun looks up but the blinding sun prevents him from seeing anything clearly except for silhouettes of, Kihyun guesses, more human. He hears more yelling and a ladder is thrown down from the railing. Kihyun’s person (it is weird to call the person Kihyun’s but Kihyun does not know his name and to be fair, he is Kihyun’s first human) shakes him, pointing to the ladder while saying something, which Kihyun thinks asking him to go there. Kihyun looks to his person and nods. Still in a daze trying to figuring out the situation, Kihyun feels himself being turned around again, an arm wrapping around him and his human drags him face up closer to the boat.

Making sure Kihyun holding tight onto both sides of the ladder, Kihyun’s person ushers him up. With each step out of the water, Kihyun can feel warmer with the sun blazing down and heavier because of his wet clothes. Reaching the top, Kihyun can see the second human stretching out his hand for Kihyun to hold. The second human also has black hair as Kihyun’s person but the eyes are darker, almost black. His voice is surprisingly deep, strangely bringing comfort to Kihyun’s overwhelming mind. Taking his hands, Kihyun steps foot onto the deck. A soft, very soft, furry white cloth is wrapped around him by the second human and then Kihyun is led to sit on a long white chair. Right after his human follows and sits across him. While caressing the piece of fabric that embracing him, Kihyun looks over to his human. The man is looking back at Kihyun, saying something. His voice is softer now, losing the edgy of urgency.

“I am sorry. I do not understand your language” - Kihyun tries while shaking his head apologetically.

His human turns around to says something to the second human. Kihyun takes the chance to observe them more. They are both pretty much naked save for the knee-length colorful pants they have on. The second human should be Kihyun’s size in build. His body is lean and his skin is decorated with a few drawings which Kihyun thinks very pretty. Kihyun’s human has a broader shoulder and is bigger in size. His skin is still wet and glistening under sun. He is much paler than the second human and there are also drawings on his smooth skin. While watching them, Kihyun notices that their attentions are back to him. They are looking straight at him and saying something while motioning the drinking action.

“Drinking? Oh, Water? Yes, please” - Kihyun replies while nods his head hurriedly. In Evergreen, people can absorb the energy from plants so that they do not need to eat to survive which is the way the people choose to evolve in order to conserve and respect their plants. However, like plants, Kihyun and his people still need water.

A cold glass of water is brought to Kihyun. He takes it and gulps it down in one breath. Salty water surely makes Kihyun very thirsty. Kihyun guesses it is somewhat funny for them since Kihyun can see the second human chuckling, showing his dimples that Kihyun just now notices and his human gives Kihyun a soft smile. Kihyun somehow feels his nervousness fading away and he bows expressing his gratitudes, giving them a small smile in return. The two human turns to talk to each other and once in a while stealing glances at Kihyun. Kihyun can feel their eyes scanning his clothes. His carefully prepared clothes do not seem to match their style obviously. Kihyun is covered from head to toes, even his hair has a feathery hat clipped to it and there is barely anything covering them.

Moments pass and except for some peeking here and there, Kihyun still has not managed to have a proper interactions with the human. So gathering all his courage, Kihyun clears his throat, and tries to introduce himself. Catching their attention, Kihyun points to himself

“My name is Kihyun”

They look at each other and Kihyun repeats still pointing to himself.

“Kihyun”

“KI HYUN”

Kihyun’s human seems to finally understand him.

“ _Kihyun_ ” He then gives Kihyun a blinding smile (and Kihyun decides he likes the smile on his human), points to himself and says.

“ _Wooohoo_ "

 “Woohoo”- repeats Kihyun

Shaking his head, his human “Woohoo” corrects

“ _WON HO_ ”

“Wonho” His human nods in satisfaction and smiles again. “Wonho”, Kihyun likes how it sounds. His human, Wonho now, points towards the second human

“ _CHANG KYUN_ ”

“Changkyun?” They both nod and smile.

Kihyun stands up, moves towards Wonho a little then crouches down to his eye-level. Wonho looks at Kihyun questioningly while Kihyun leans forward to put his forehead on Wonho’s forehead, closes his eyes and says

“Hi, Wonho”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and comments. I love them a lot.


	4. THE BALANCE OF NATURE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kihyun sees and observes the earth ecosystem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your lovely and encouraging words!

Kihyun can hear a little gasp. He opens his eyes to find his human, Wonho staring at him in an expression he can only describe as bewilderment. Kihyun silently looks at Wonho waiting for his response. Moments pass and they are still in the same position, foreheads touching and eyes boring deep into each other. Wonho still hasn’t acknowledged Kihyun’s greeting, not even a nod and that automatically draws a small pout from him. 

When nothing happens, Kihyun sighs, feeling rejected since that is his first official greeting with humans. He would have lost his cool if Wonho were some Evergreener but Wonho is human so Kihyun decides he would let it pass this time. Leaning back, Kihyun stands up and turns to Changkyun who has been watching on the side. Since they are similar in size, it does not take much for Kihyun to close the distance and put his forehead onto Changkyun’s, saying

“Hi, Changkyun”

It goes better this time. At this close distance, Kihyun can see a small smile forming on Changkyun’s lips. Then Changkyun closes the distance even more, nuzzling his nose to Kihyun’s. The action is not something Kihyun expects but definitely welcomes. It is so endearing. It reminds Kihyun of the innocence and eagerness of sprouts when they just come out to meet the world.Kihyun can hear Wonho clearing his throat faintly next to him. That somehow makes Changkyun smile wide, showing his teeth. Changkyun nods at Kihyun and then moves away. Kihyun beams. His greeting this time succeeds. 

Wonho says something and Changkyun turns around and leaves the deck. Kihyun slowly walks towards the chair, sits down playing with the white cloth wrapping around him. And in the moment the memory of his unsuccessful introduction floods his mind. Kihyun sulks. He crouches forward a little, head hanging low. He gives himself some time to mope, then straightens his back and tries again. This time, he waits for their eyes to meet and gives Wonho a small nod and a smile. Wonho returns the nod and smiles back. Kihyun grins. He nails it. The greeting is informal but whatever floats Wonho's boat, Kihyun takes it.   


The sound of a motor can be heard. Kihyun jerks forward a little when the boat starts moving. In a brief second, Kihyun is worried that Euka and their fish friends will get startled by the loud noise. Then he realizes he has an even more serious concern.

“Where are we going?” Kihyun wonders out loud. 

Making sure Wonho is looking at him, Kihyun points to the direction the boat is heading, tilts his head and shrugs

“Where?” - hoping by some miracle, Wonho can understand him.  

Wonho says something then puts his thumb up, nods then shakes his head slightly, seemingly posing a question

“Thumb? One?”

Kihyun repeats the action which earns a nod from Wonho. 

“I want to go to the trees” - Kihyun tries, keeping his head straight and extending his arms to the sides, attempting to look like a tree. 

“Trees” - Kihyun still with his arms spreading, swaying slightly side to side imitating a tree in the wind. 

Able to detect the confusion in Wonho’s eyes, Kihyun takes off the white cloth wrapping around his boy, folds it neatly on the chair before standing up straight, extending his arms once again and swaying while making the sound of the wind

“Shoo shoo shoo”

And something must have clicked in Wonho’s mind because Kihyun can see his eyes lit up. Wonho scoots over a little bit to the edge of the chair that he is sitting on, looks up at Kihyun with eagerness. Wonho moves two fingers imitating someone walking then spreads his arms, crouches forward a little and sways.

Kihyun yelps and nods vigorously 

“Yes. Trees. I want to go to the trees.”

Wonho smiles, giving Kihyun his thumb again.

“That must be something good then. So thumb is good. I wonder what pinky is. Bad?” mumbling to himself, Kihyun looks at his pinky questioningly.

The boat keeps moving and the motor sounds less loud now. Wonho and Kihyun both fall into a comfortable silence. Kihyun looks around and admires the glimpse of colorful Earth unfolding before his eyes. The water changes colors from dark blue to emerald green now. White masses of clouds are painted across the cobalt blue sky. Flying creatures moves gracefully and freely across the airspace. 

Suddenly one of them cries out and dives down so fast to the water surface. Kihyun is surprised seeing the being coming up with some fish in their mouth. 

“Wow! So that is what the balance of nature is” - Kihyun utters

Kihyun read about the ecosystem of Earth in the book and how various creatures can co-exist with predator prey relationship. So Kihyun understands what kind of scene he is witnessing. Kihyun is then reminded of Euka, the kelp, and her words about nurturing the fish around her. 

“It is like a big loop of caring. They are all caretakers” - Kihyun thinks. Back in Evergreen, there are mostly just plants and caretakers, no other livings. Kihyun heard that things were different in the past though. There were other creatures but at one point the Evergreeners wanted to wipe out other life forms to allocate all the resources to their plants. Things did not go well. The trees died and they could not pollinate. The bushes grew and the vines took over. Then the likes of Kihyun were created, after many alterations, trials and errors. The caretakers devote their lives for the home trees, keeping them healthy and alive. The bond is forever and exclusive. Kihyun is one of the youngest there. Being born and reborn again and again for the Great Oak, he had only had 5 lifetimes before this one. Kihyun wonders how Evergreen would look if things had been different, if his people had not gotten to greedy. 

Deep in thought, Kihyun does not notice the boat has stopped until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Kihyun turns around and he sees it. The lush green surrounding the crystal clear rectangular glass construction. In front of it, there is a small water body, glittering blue under the sun. There are flowers around it too, some are Kihyun’s hair color, some are vibrant red, some are pure white. Together they create a breathtaking picture. Kihyun just stares motionless in amazement until he felt a tug on his hand and Wonho motioning him to follow. Wonho climbs over the edge and starts descending down the stairs that they had used earlier. When Wonho reaches the end, he looks up and silently waits. Kihyun puts one legs over and then he suddenly stops hearing a loud noise followed by the appearance of a blond four legged creature. The creature bolts on the wooden bridge over to Wonho, knocks him off his feet and starts licking his face. 

“It is tasting him. Oh no! it is gonna eat Wonho. It is doing the nature balance thing” - Kihyun widens his eyes in realization.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you still enjoy this! I have been editing this chapter so many times. Putting myself in a position of a baby who sees the world for the first time is fun though.


	5. LOST

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kihyun embarks on his journey on Earth. And nothing is easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and comments. I appreciate them a lot.  
> This chapter has not been proof read so mistakes are expected.

So many thoughts run through Kihyun’s mind it that split moment. 

 

“Should I try to save Wonho?”

“Will I be able to overpower the being?”

“Will it eat me after eating Wonho? Is Wonho enough for it to get full? No, I still need to find my home tree” 

“I should let nature do its work, right?”

“But Wonho is taking me to the trees. 

“Okay whatever! My human, here I come”

 

Jumping down the stairs with determination, Kihyun charges over to where the creature is still tasting Wonho’s face. He closes his eyes and jumps on the being’s back. Kihyun holds it tightly in his arms, lifts it up to separate it from Wonho. The creature is heavy. It makes Kihyun lose his balance and land himself on his butt. Kihyun screams

“Wonho! Run”

Kihyun can feel his grip is loosening up while the creature wriggles to turn around. The next thing he knows is his face being licked. The rough but tender touch of the being’s tongue leaving a trail of saliva on his face. 

“I will die. It will eat me. No, I have not even been on Earth for one sun cycle.” - Kihyun whimpers. 

But the licking continues. And continues. 

“It sure takes its time tasting its meal” - Kihyun bitterly thinks. 

Tired of waiting to be devoured, Kihyun opens his eyes to see when the first bite comes. What he looks at is not what he expected. A wet pink button nose, two round shining black eyes staring eagerly at him. The blond hair shines like a ray of sun and the body in his arms is so soft, even softer than a flower petal. The creature is breathing heavily but Kihyun feels no malicious intention emitting from its action, just warmth, physically and emotionally. In Evergreen, it was unusual for a caretaker to have any kind of relationship with other livings besides their home tree so that they do not have any distraction. Therefore, except for a few greetings once in a while when he met other caretakers on their way to get water, Kihyun has never experienced anything like this. The bond with the Great Oak provided Kihyun with affection but he had never felt it with his whole body. The heat that envelops Kihyun’s torso, penetrates into his heart and his mind. It feels strange, a good kind of strange. His body starts to relax by itself and the corners of his lips automatically pulls up

“It is not bad to die like this though. So warm!!!” - Kihyun sighs out. 

The weight and warmth are suddenly got lifted from Kihyun. His arms are still in the air, miming a hugging action but nothing to hug now. Kihyun looks up from where he is lying and meets with Wonho hugging the creature, two of its legs around Wonho’s neck, the others around his waist. Wonho reaches forward and offers his hand, seemingly wants to help Kihyun to get up. Still in a daze of missing his death by a thread, Kihyun takes Wonho’s hand, stands up, eyes never leave the blond ball of fur who is now making noises at Changkyun climbing down the ladder.  

The scene in front of Kihyun’s eyes radiates no hostility, or hunger. No one wants to eat anyone at the moment so  Kihyun guesses he is safe for now. Feeling a light tug on his hand, Kihyun realizes he is still holding on Wonho’s hand. He gives it a little squeeze and then lets go,  looking into Wonho’s eyes and grins 

“Congratulations for making it alive. Such a wonderful day to be alive! Don’t you think so?”

Wonho smiles, ruffling the blondie’s hair who is now in his arms, saying:

_ “Bomi, Bomi” _

“Bomi” - Kihyun figures that would be the earthling’s name and that Wonho and the blondie are acquaintances.He feels silly, a bit embarrassed about his actions but who can blame him, Bomi was very aggressive. Kihyun tries to reason himself. 

Not knowing the distressing monologue inside Kihyuns’ head, Wonho steps forward, motions for Kihyun to follow. They walk on the wooden bridge leading to the big glass building Kihyun saw from the boat. Wonho is in front, and behind are Kihyun and Changkyun.  Kihyun has to jog to catch up with Wonho and to not slow down Changkyun. Not because he is short. No, his legs are of perfect average length but his shoes and his clothes are the problems. Kihyun can feel his feet squeakily sliding inside the leather shoes in which there are still some water. Even though his clothes are not soaked any more, they are still wet, clinging onto his skin. The blazing sun does not help since Kihyun keeps sweating and damping the clothes even more.

“It is so hot” - Kihyun breathes sticking his tongue out, realizing that Bomi is looking back at him and doing the same.

“So you are hot, huh? You are not trying to tease me right, Bomi?” - Kihyun pouts. 

Kihyun already thought the glass construction was amazing from the boat but at the close distance it becomes much more impressive. It should be the same size as the building where the Elders works and that building is already the biggest on the surface of Evergreen (the creation chamber can be considered the largest facility on Evergreen but it is underground so Kihyun has no estimation of its size). This building is shaped like a box and from here, Kihyun can see all the details inside. The big chair that looks comfy, a huge painting full of lines and colors hanging on the wall, and so many other things that Kihyun has never seen before. When they reach the white gate, Wonho opens it with one hand while the other puts down the blondie. Wonho holds the gate and gestures for Kihyun to walk in.  


Kihyun’s jaw drops “Oh my tree, Wonho relocates the water body. Oh my!!!”

There is a big rectangular-shaped water body in front of the building. Kihyun is used to seeing streams, rivers, all types of water flows but this is his first time, seeing a nicely shaped water puddle with gorgeous dark blue color. “Did it rain yesterday? How do they make puddle so pretty? There is no mud either. Wow!!!” - so many questions running through Kihyun's mind.  


A dimpled smile appearing in front of Kihyun’s face successfully pulls him out of his amazement of Wonho’s capabilities. Changkyun is holding out a few pieces of clothes while pointing at Kihyun’s. Looking down at what he is wearing and how uncomfortable everything is, Kihyun nods and takes Changkyun’s offer. 

“Thank you” - Kihyun smiles. 

He begins taking off his hat, shoes and then moving on to unbutton his huge shirts, first pants and and another tight one he is wearing inside. Feeling the breeze on his skin is like heaven. The sound of throat clearing draws Kihyun’s attention. He looks up and sees Changkyun lowering his head, hand on his mouth suppressing a giggle while Wonho alreadying turning around, ears red.

“Wonho must be hot then. The weather on Earth is crazy.” - Kihyun thinks and resumes putting the clothes Changkyun presenting him on. 

First the short pants then long pants just as how he learns from the pictures in the book. The loud laugh and a hand shoots out to save Kihyun from his struggling pulling up the short pants which is now stuck at his knees. Changkyun kneels down to the ground and takes the pants off, shaking his head. He then pulls down his pants a little showing Kihyun the short pants inside. 

“Ah. Okay. I got this. So you guys change the order of how you dress then.” - Kihyun exclaims

It is actually weird for Kihyun to wear two pairs of pants since he is usually dressed in a loose one back when he lived with Oakie, and sometimes he did not bother to put on any clothes at all. But when on Earth, do as Earthlings then, Kihyun thinks and dresses up slowly, looking at Changkyun for approval every step. The pants are light blue, and loose. They go all the way from his hip bone to the ground. The shirt is decorated with white and red stripes and it is so comfortable. He loves it three thousand times more than his old clothes. The shoes are bigger than his feet so Kihyun takes them off to give them back to Changkyun

“It is okay. I can do barefoot. Thank you so much, Changkyun”

Kihyun folds his clothes and puts them all in a neat pile together with his shoes, not forgetting taking out his little pouch with all the gold and silver round plates to tie it safely on his newly changed pants. A melody rings out and Kihyun looks at Changkyun pulling out a shiny black piece of metal from his pants’ pocket looking like the remote control on the TREE-1 and speaking into it. Kihyun tilts his head observing the actions and guesses that this might be some transmitter that can connect with another human. It takes just a bit for Changkyun to stop talking, putting the transmitter back into his pants and takes Kihyun’s hand to lead him into, through and out of the building. They did not stop at all on the way so Kihyun could not take his time to appreciate anything inside the building. Kihyun just knows that it is mostly glass, white and plants. There are so many types of plants and Kihyun feels sad that he could not stop to talk to them. 

Changkyun halts in front of a machine, the door opens and reveals Wonho sitting behind the control wheel. This, Kihyun guesses is like the TREE-1, a transportation machine. Changkyun takes Kihyun around and opens the opposite door, motioning for Kihyun to get in. After getting seated, Kihyun turns to Changkyun only to find himself getting wrapped in Changkyun’s arms. Changkyun smiles, nuzzling their noses together then leans back and closes the door. 

Kihyun hears Wonho clearing his throat once again and takes a peek at the man sitting next to him with concern in his eyes. Wonho has been doing that a lot in the short span of time they have seen each other. 

“Are you alright? Is your throat okay?” 

Kihyun can see Wonho’s mouth opening and closing, eyes blinking looking straight at him, scanning Kihyun from head to toe, seemingly wants to say something but not. Kihyun keeps looking at Wonho in silence waiting and what he does not expect is Wonho leaning over, body in front of him. At that moment, Kihyun references back to what Changkyun just did to him and he does what he thinks Wonho wants, wrapping his arms around Wonho’s body. Kihyun can feel Wonho stiffening so he tries to relax his human’s body by soothing his hands up and down Wonho’s back. Again, Wonho clears his throat, pulling a rope from the side , moving back, clicking it in place and securing the band across Kihyun’s torso. 

“Ah seat belt. I had the same thing on my TREE-1. I even learn the emergency protocol ! Always safety first right?” - Kihyun rants happily at Wonho, at last finding out something familiar. Wonho fidgets his hands now on the wheel, starts the machine and drives off. His ears are red.

“Human sure do feel hot a lot, I guess” - Kihyun observes. 

The scenery changes outside the moving machine. Water, trees, buildings, human. The Earthlings come in different shapes, sizes and colors. So lively and vivid in Kihyun’s eyes. They keep going for a while and do not stop. Not at the first tree in sight, or the second, or the third or fourth, fifth. Kihyun wants to ask but he does not want to distract Wonho who seems very focused on maneuvering the machine so he decides to trust his human. After all, Wonho knows Earth better so he must know where Kihyun can find a tree to bond. 

The atmosphere inside the machine is nice. The melody emitted is soothing, the air is cool and his seat is comfortable so Kihyun bears no complaints. Wonho keeps his hands on the wheel and glances at Kihyun once in a while. Whenever Kihyun catches Wonho’s eyes, he would give his human a smile and that seems to make his human happy since Kihyun can notice the corners of his mouth lifting up. 

From afar Kihyun can see a huge construction, bigger than Wonho’s building, and larger than anything Kihyun has seen. The vehicle keeps moving to that direction and finally comes to a halt where there are many other vehicles and a lot more human gathering. Wonho stops the motor, takes off his seatbelt and gets out of the machine. Kihyun can hear the door from his side opening, so he turns and watches Wonho holding it, waiting for him. Kihyun imitates what he saw Wonho doing to remove the seatbelt and steps out carrying his neatly folded clothes pile. Wonho gestures to the big place and smiles. He puts his thumb up and tilts his head posing a question.

“Good? Yes I am very good” - Kihyun repeats the action and smiles. 

Wonho nods and turns around. Kihyun thinks this is the place where the trees are and Wonho is leaving so he reaches out to hold Wonho hands. Kihyun puts down his clothes, fidgets to open the pouch that is tied securely around his pants. He grabs a couple of silver and gold discs to put them inside Wonho’s palm. 

“Thank you so much for helping me, Wonho. I will never forget you” - Kihyun expresses his gratitude. 

Wonho looks at the what Kihyun gives him in his hand for a moment and tilts his head in question. 

“They are for you, Wonho. As exchange for your help” - Kihyun explains pointing at the discs and then at Wonho hoping to convey his appreciation of Wonho’s assistance. 

It takes a moment for Wonho close his open palm and put the metal pieces in his pocket. Kihyun grins, steps forward to say goodbye. He stands on his toes a bit to pull himself up and put his forehead to Wonho’s 

“Farewell, Wonho, my human”

Kihyun can feel Wonho move with some hesitation and then arms wrapping around him. The warmth that he felt with Bomi comes back. He loves the ways Earthlings say their greetings. Kihyun beams leaning back to look at Wonho’s face. And he is very worried that Wonho might be sick . The trouble with his throat and the heat never seems to leave his face. Wonho scratches his neck, mumbles something that Kihyun guesses a goodbye. His human bows then turns around to open the door getting inside the vehicle. Kihyun giggles when he notices Wonho tripping on his feet a bit on the way. 

Kihyun remains at the spot until Wonho drives off, silently praying for his human speedy recovery from the fever. He then turns around, taking a deep breath before getting into the building, prepares himself to meet up with the trees inside. 

The space is filled with so many control panels and so much more human carrying bags with them and conversing excitedly. And there are no trees in sight. Kihyun turns his head to look around. Still no trees. He unconsciously brings his fingers up to his mouth and bites on them, a habit he picked up after sending off Oakie whenever he feels nervous and overwhelmed. Someone runs up and pushes Kihyun off the way. The pile of clothes he is holding drop to the ground. Noises, colors, everything seems to beg for his attention and at the same time, the only thing he wants is nowhere to be found. Kihyun does not know what to do or where to go to see his trees. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I use Wonho's cat name to make his puppy's name :)   
> The pace of the story is very slow at the moment but I will try to speed things up a bit and make mutual communication possible :)


End file.
